Waste management is still an alien concept in the remote mountain villages of Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India and Sangti was no exception until Northeast Waste Collective began a waste management initiative in the village in January 2020. Earlier, unaware of the consequences, the Monpa tribe inhabiting Sangti were either burning their inorganic waste or dumping it into the river flowing through the village, open lands or mountain slopes. Now, although aware, the community lacks a permanent waste management infrastructure and motivated waste workers. Space for the waste management infrastructure has been provided by the community but in an unused plot of land at the periphery of the village, which lends itself invisible to the public eye. A section of the community still continues to be averse to the idea of working in the waste management sector. 

This community architecture project, envisioned to be built using waste materials, will not only enable circular economy practices by facilitating recycling but will itself serve as an example of a circular economy practice through its design. The master plan includes a meeting place and a playground along with the Material Recovery Facility to demonstrate that it is possible to avoid the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) effect by integrating other activities intended for community use with the waste management infrastructure. The project, through its design, not only strives to positively impact the relationship the community has with waste but also address how the community can support itself, in terms of the waste it generates, in a way that visibly engages and benefits the community. 

This project initiative proposes to make Sangti a Zero Waste Community as defined by Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA). By building a zero waste infrastructure and enabling the community to adopt the goal of Zero Waste that uses ZWIA definition of Zero Waste as summarized here:

All discarded materials are resources
Resources should not be burned or buried
Goal is zero air, water and land emissions;
this initiative aims at achieving 90% or more diversion of all discarded resources from landfills, incinerators and the environment as defined in ZWIA Global Principles for Zero Waste Communities. 

Implementation of this project will not only help the community safeguard their health and environment but also create livelihood opportunities as earning the tag of 'Zero Waste Village' will help boost the local economy through tourism. With the infrastructure in place and the transfer of technical know-how, the community will be better equipped to promote responsible tourism in the village. The waste management system will directly benefit the 1200 people inhabiting Sangti and will also create green jobs for the waste collectors and managers. 

The vision for Sangti, co-created with the community is a 5 year plan in which the theme of the 1st year is waste management followed by renewable energy, biodiversity conservation, water management and natural farming. Achieving the first goal of 'Zero Waste Village' will enable the youth to see opportunities of growth in their own village and discourage them from migrating to cities for employment. It will also encourage the community to work towards achieving the other goals in the coming years in order to develop systems for long term economic and ecological development.

Merwyn and Ittisha have known the people of Sangti since 2018 when they had taken a group of school children to Sangti for their summer camp. Seeing waste being littered everywhere in the beautiful village they organized a clean-up drive led by the children. In 2019, Namgey Khandu got in touch with them and expressed the community's desire to organize a music festival to attract tourists and generate revenue. With this came about the idea of Monyul Gathering, an annual cultural festival and the five year plan for Sangti (details provided in external links). In February 2020, the team of Further and Beyond Foundation in collaboration with Hum and the Monpa community organized the Monyul Gathering and initiated the waste management program as part of the 5 year plan. This led to the formation of the core team which is now working towards making Sangti a Zero Waste Village.

Core Team-

Ittisha Sarah-
Co-founder, Northeast Waste Collective (the waste vertical of Further and Beyond Fondation)
MDes (Social Design) from Ambedkar University, Delhi.
She is leading this project.

Merwyn Coutinho-
Co-founder, Further and Beyond Foundation and Northeast Waste Collective

Lina Baishya-
An Architect friend and a volunteer. She has recently been selected for the master program of International Cooperation Sustainable Emergency Architecture at UIC, Barcelona
 

Core team members from the community-

Dorjee Letro- Public leader, homestay owner
Tashi Dorjee- Gen. Sec. of All Sangti Khremi Youth Welfare Association
Namgey Khandu- Monk, member of Buddhist Society, campsite and homestay owner
Sangey Nima- Member of women self help group, homestay owner
Leiki Wangmu, Yeshi Pema, Dechen, Namgey, Tsering Jomba- young women members of the waste management team
(Farming is the main ocupation of all the members listed above)
Mon Stars (Stars of the Monpas)- Group of children actively advocating and practicing waste management

Interview of member of the waste management team
Resume of core team members
Website link of Monyul Gathering- a festival org
Donation link for the project
Further and Beyond Facebook Page
Northeast Waste Collective Instagram
The Batti Project of Further
Ig handle Batti Project of F
Zero Waste Initiative in Thembang
Monyul Gathering and the 5 Year Plan